The Carrère Gallery is named after the architectural firm Carrère and Hastings which built the Forbes building.

When we speak of the word ‘life,’ it must be understood we are not referring to life as we know it from its surface of fact, but to that fragile, fluctuating center which forms never reach.
–Antonin Artaud

"Under the Surface" chronicles a figurative and psychological devolution and evolution of identity. The work moves from the literal to the abstract, from the personal and microcosmic to the broader and macrocosmic. The human experience is first figuratively depicted, next moving to still-recognizable shadows, then submerging and dissolving into a watery environment where all
is not as expected. Finally, nature and identity are free to continue evolving.

This collection of work by Chloe Ho, centering around the theme of "Under the Surface," is meant to recall the moment when we are poised at the edge of wakefulness and moving through tenuous states of consciousness. This “lucid dream” reveals itself in multilayered surfaces: smoke, water, shadow, light and manifestations of life both familiar and alien. It is in the moment and motion of sinking into a “fragile fluctuating centre” that we find new insights about ourselves, our identities and our cravings.

Every individual holds for their own right to indulge under the surface and freely express themselves!

I sincerely thank Mr. Christopher Forbes for supporting our vision and commitment to nurturing artistic talents. I am also grateful to Ms. Bonnie Kirschstein and her curatorial team at The Forbes Collection for their generous support of this exhibition.